Contact list is a common feature in most communication devices; including cellular phones and landline phones. It is a convenient feature that enables callers to save contact information of businesses and individuals in the communication device, so callers do not have to memorize all contact information. Generally, a caller has to manually enter phone number and other contact information of businesses and individuals into the contact list of communication devices such as cellular phones, landline phones, etc. When the caller wishes to call a business or individual whose contact information has been saved in the contact list of communication device, he or she is required to select the phone number of the said business or individual from the contact list of said communication device and then select the auto dial feature of communication device to automatically dial the selected phone number. This has the advantage of not requiring the caller to remember phone numbers and other contact information of businesses and individuals; which would otherwise be challenging and impractical. The automatic dial feature of communication device enables callers dial phone number from the contact list of communication devices without having to manually dial said number. Particularly, this feature allows driver to safely make a phone call while driving, as it enables them to automatically make a phone call from the contact list of communication device without having to divert attention away from driving to manually dial a phone number.
However, present communication devices have significant limitations with respect to the features, functionality and management of their contact list; namely. these devices 1) requires manual entry of contact information into the contact list; 2) allows retrieval of contact information of only those businesses and individuals whose contact information have been saved in the contact list. When the caller has to call a business or individual not listed in the contact list of communication device, he or she has to look up contact information of said business individual at external resources such as the ‘yellow book’, directory assistance, Internet, etc. Once said contact information is found, it has to be manually entered and saved into the contact list of communication device. This a cumbersome and time consuming process, especially when the caller desires to save contact information of multiple businesses and individuals into the contact list of the communication device. Also, it is not possible to search for contact information from external sources such as ‘yellow book’, Internet etc. at all times, simply because the resources needed to do so are not readily available at all times; for example while driving. Some modern communication devices, especially cellular phones, are web enabled and enable callers to access the Internet. This enables callers to find contact information of businesses and individuals by accessing resources available on the Internet. An example of such resource is www.yellowpages.com, which enables callers to find contact information of businesses. However, this system too has limitations and drawbacks; namely it 1) requires manual entry of desired business's or individual's information, such as name, location etc into the web browser; 2) does not enable callers to automatically save contact information obtained upon search into the contact list of communication devices; 3) does not enable callers to automatically dial phone number displayed in the search result; 4) requires new search for each business or individual, making it tedious and impractical for callers who need to find contact information of multiple businesses or individuals; 5) requires access to the internet every time contact information search is to be performed; and 6) requires subscription to wireless Internet service, which is usually quite expensive.
It is a known fact that most contact information search is done to find a phone number and other contact information of local businesses and individuals. It is also a known fact that individuals do a majority of commerce with local businesses and individuals, usually within a fifty-mile radius of their residence or place of work. However, there is no method, system or apparatus apparent in the prior art that would enable callers to download and save contact information of local businesses and individuals into the contact list of communication devices, without requiring them to manually enter contact information of each local business and individual. At present, saving contact information of local businesses and individuals into the contact list of communication devices is a cumbersome and time consuming process, and is unfeasible if caller wishes to save contact information of large number of local businesses and individuals. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/164,318 filed on Nov. 17, 2005 an apparatus, method, and system to enable callers download and save contact information of large number of businesses and individuals into the contact list of communication devices without needing to manually enter each contact information and without needing to search for contact information of each business or individual individually is disclosed. There-after, callers can find contact information of large number of businesses and individuals from within the contact list of communication devices without requiring access to an outside contact information resource.
Presently, communication devices such as cellular phones are not used to their fullest potential for the purpose of advertising products and services of businesses and individuals. With the ability to access the Internet on modem communication devices, advertising is gradually picking up the pace in the realm of communication devices. Most advertising presently done on communication devices is done in a web based environment. An example of such method is the ‘wireless Google’ at www.google.com where advertisements are displayed wit search results generated in response to a caller's query. In this method, the caller is required to subscribe to the wireless Internet service, start internet browser on the communication device, access www.google.com and thereafter perform a search on www.google.com. Advertisements are displayed along with results of said search. As is evident, this method requires access to wireless Internet service, which is usually expensive and not available at all locations at all times. More importantly, callers are exposed to advertisements only at a time when they are accessing said web site, which comprises of only a small fraction of their airtime usage. Callers us majority of their airtime on communication devices making phone calls to other callers. In addition, such method of advertising is general in nature and does not enable businesses to micro target their advertisements, in ways that is made possible with the present invention. There is no apparent invention in the prior art which enables businesses and individuals to advertise in conjunction with phone calls made from communication devices such as cellular phones. Consequently, there still remains a need for an apparatus, system and method to enable businesses and individuals to advertise on communication devices, such as cellular phones, in conjunction with phone calls made from these devices.